KLIA air traffic controllers may face action over MH370

A Malaysian Airlines flag flies in front of the traffic control tower at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. - Filepic

AN internal committee will be set up to decide on the action against the air traffic controllers who were on duty at KLIA the day MH370 went missing four years ago, says the Transport Minister.

Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the committee would be set up under the secretary-general immediately.

“The MH370 report stated that there was a breach of standard operating procedures, so action must be taken.

“However, it is complicated because at the time, air traffic controllers were under the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) but now they are under the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).

“We will wait for the internal committee’s recommendations before taking action,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Loke had earlier raised a motion in Parliament to extend his condolences to the next of kin of the passengers and crew members onboard the missing plane and to inform lawmakers on the report of MH370 investigations, which was made public on Monday.

Moments earlier, CAAM chairman Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman announced he was resigning from the position.

Loke deemed him the first person to take responsibility and resign after the report was released.

Azharuddin had been DCA director-general when MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014.